Well chicken-shit! Not 2 hours ago on the way home from the store a cat ran out from under a car parked at the end of a driveway less than a quarter mile from home, scared the bejeesus out of me, and I grabbed about "THAT MUCH" too much brake and locked the front. I have NEVER in my life locked the front wheel, and it was quite a surprise, let me tell you! Down it went to the left. About 30 in 3rd, bike slid a long goddam ways, and I hit on my left side, rolled to the left to end up on my back. Hit the same hipbone I bruised last October, sprained the same ankle I sprained last October, but that's about where it ends.

Bike faired better than October, as did I. My helmet has not a mark on it except on the visor, which was pushed in hard enough that I almost couldn't open it, but once opened it works fine. My jacket is thoroughly scuffed on the left arm and shoulder, a bit on the left side of the back, and a bit on the right arm, I guess during my roll. The fabric was penetrated to the lining on the back of my left arm, but it's a light stretch fabric there, not a usual impact area. My pants are scuffed on the left hip and knee, that's all. I'd have no qualms about keeping them in service. My left boot took a hit, scuffed the toe and tore some stitches out of the shifter panel.

Bike Has a mark on the (new) upper fairing under the mirror mount, a small scrape on the (new) stator cover, and a badly rashed (new) side bag. Badly enough I think I'll put the other one back on. Also, the flexible cover over the hinge on the (new) mirror has a hole worn through it, and the turn signal body almost wore through on the bottom surface.

Me, I'm fine, but my ankle hurts like a sunofabitch. It was still sore from the October sprain, not yet 100%. Not the same flexibility, not the same strength. Owie! I don't think I even bruised anything like I did last fall.

The silver panel is leather, and the stitched area contains the elbow hard armor; almost missed it!

To orient this one, if my arm was in it as it lies here, my left hand would be palm down on the back of the sofa:

Left back of jacket, fabric area:

Back of left shoulder, leather impact panel with hard armor external:

Damn, I like these boots:P

Six-month-old bag (the camera that took these pics was in the bag, in a camera bag I bought from camera56's yard sale a couple months ago). The rubber logo strip is AWOL.

Portion of a slider, doing exactly what it is meant to do. In my October crash, the bolt bent allowing the slider to fold back.

Other side for comparison:

Tiny mark on (new) stator cover:

Tiny mark on (new) upper fairing and hole in (new) mirror:

If I do it, this will be the second flattening of this bracket. Probably not a good idea, unless I borrow a torch and give it some thermal units first:

Of course what TRULY SUX RAW EGGS is that I was supposed to leave Wednesday for AMA at Barber. I'll have to see how my gimp leg feels. I'm probably not gonna worry about it and go up Friday through Sunday if I go at all.

Next cat fuckin' dies!!!! (That summarizes the usual "what I learned from the experience" that people put in this part of their posts.)

Although a cat may be considered a meal, it is borderline. I would run it over! The way toecutter mentioned his incident, the Jack rabbit was quite large (a meal for two; right Toecutter?) but still ran it over...nearly broke his toe.

Hope all mends quickly! Oh; I think that cat owes you one of its lifes.

News like this makes my heart sad for you. Sorry to hear (and see the results of) your...er...uhm...adventure. Make an appointment and have your DR. look at that ankle. A hairline fracture can feel like a sprain.

It looks like your gear "gave it's life" for you. The damage to your gear roughly parallels what I did to my jacket and pants during a low speed low-side. That's one of the main reasons I replaced it with Kevlar. I wondered how it would have done if I'd been going 45 or 55 or more?

The bike parts are easily replaceable, though not inexpensive. And then there's that "reminder" when you see them. Of course, now you can have one of the cases repainted so that you have a "replacement" should this event repeat itself.......J/K.

I was able to straighten my Wild Bill bracket by clamping it in a vice and using a rather large adjustable end wrench (16"). Heat isn't likely to help aluminum like it does steel.

It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

Glad to see you are relatively ok. Not trying to take away from your incident, but it reminded me of something that happened to me years ago. Late at night, dark anyway, started out from where I lived in a very rural section. Up to speed and then all of the sudden a group of cats, 3-4, bolt out in front of me. I never swerve, maybe slow a little but never hard, for anything that will not stop me, so deer, dogs, cattle, etc. tend to get the right of way. I ran over jsut one of the cats. I am not a squeemish person, but it made me a little queesy. I ran right over the head of one of the cats. The sound, well take a styrofoam cup and turn it upside down then smash it flat....<POP>. For some reason I still remember that because of the sound. It was loud enought to hear over engine and thru helmet. Yuch!

Heal well.

John

"So what I told you was true....from a certain point of view" Obi-Wan"I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters." - Frank Lloyd Wright

Glad you are OK man! You should probably have an X-Ray of the foot and ankle.

The helmet may be toast if the shield got jammed that bad. But dunno

This is exactly the kind of accident I have had, and the reason I went with ABS. I can't say ABS would have prevented this particular accident, but it is those hard sprains and sickening bike pick-ups I am trying to avoid. In a "oh-shit" moment I know I have grabbed too much brake, and don't trust myself again, no matter how much training or practice....

As for the bag, you might want to consider seeing if Gary can paint it up for ya, if you are inclined.

Were thaose R&G sliders? I just picked up a pair.

Again, really glad you learned there is an overpopulation of small critters, so one more or less don't matter.

The only difference between intelligence and stupidity is that genius has it's limits.

Also, thanks for posting the incident especially with the gear report and pictures. It's really difficult to gage the effectiveness of safety gear, so your nice write-up gives many the opportunity to understand how that gear holds up in a get off.

That sucks! I feel for ya because I did the same thing in December 2005 only it was for a dog. Deputy said in the future hit the dog as my bike wouldn't have been any worse than hitting the tree (I had already come off at that point).

As others have said, have the ankle looked at. I tore my ankle all to H*LL in my accident and it hasn't been right since. Doctor said it will never will be the same and it will be a lot weaker in future "incidents". Yours may have more damage than you think. I hope not. Good luck getting everything back to normal.

"Win if you can, Lose if you must, But ALWAYS cheat" - Jesse THE GOVNA Ventura"If you POKE it, You Own It" - Man LawJust because you've always done it that way, doesn't mean you've been doing it correctly, just go ask your wife!CLICK HERE IF YOU THINK I'M A DICKIBA #27660